ELIZABETH INRIG
REPUBLISHED FROM JULY/AUGUST 2007 PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE
Each year our church hosts a Day Camp for primary and middle school children. This year I taught a class called “Life in the Palace”—an attempt to instruct young girls on simple manners and table etiquette.
I asked what they would do if they were eating at a friend’s house and were served something they didn’t like. The answers included things they wouldn’t do: make a face like their brother or push it away!
One little girl named Kelli answered the question dramatically saying, “Oh my God, that’s terrible cooking!” She was all of 7 years old, and her words took me by surprise! I felt sad that so young a child could roll those words so easily off her lips. I was angry at the adults in her life or the TV programs she had watched that modeled this hasty phrase. I was irritated that someone had not explained to her how holy the God of the universe is and how wrong it is to speak of Him so carelessly.
Calling on God without knowing Him
Do you hear this phrase as much as I do? Have you noticed how it comes from both spiritual pagans and professing Christians in our day and age? Does it strike you as incongruent, for a God-maligning culture like ours, to be so willing to talk about God without knowing Him? Does it seem odd to you that a person who professes to take a stand for believing in and respecting the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ would speak the Name of his/her God so thoughtlessly?
Does it strike you as incongruent, for a God-maligning culture like ours, to be so willing to talk about God without knowing Him?
It’s an interesting fact that the culture in which we live is not too fond of God—at least not the God of the Bible. We repeatedly get that idea from the way people speak of Him! The media works hard to discredit him by saying it is “the height of intolerance” even to believe in one God and “the height of arrogance” to parade Him in public! The ACLU works hard to keep God and God-words out of schools, public buildings and front yards, yet a healthy slice of our population continuously claims its “freedom of speech” to mention God in conversation without knowing Him as the one true God of heaven and earth who revealed Himself in creation, in the Bible, and through His Son.
In spite of their ignorance—like the little girl in my class—they talk about Him anyway—relentlessly and persistently!
Think about it! In a crisis or accident, people call out, “Oh, my God!” If they hear bad news, good news, are surprised at something, or need a quick expletive, God is the one they bring into the conversation. Recently, I have begun to hear professing Christ-followers breathe those three words as an oath.
Something is very wrong with this picture. My little student’s words reminded me about the seriousness of carelessly crying this phrase out of anger or fear.
“But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Mt. 12:36, 37)
This passage from Matthew meshes with the definition in Psalm 34:11-14 of what it means to “fear the Lord”. The first description of the person who is learning to fear the Lord is the one “whose tongue doesn’t speak deceit and whose lips don’t lie.” (v. 13) The King James Version says these words are “idle words”—words that are used wastefully.
It really is hypocritical to call carelessly on God in times of trouble when one doesn’t know or believe in Him and when one generally distrusts Him. It isn’t just a shame to speak of Him in that way; it is lying to use His name vainly when one cares little for Him.
So—fear the Lord by speaking well of God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow Paul’s advice to Timothy in Titus 2:7,8 – ‘…set an example…sound speech that cannot be condemned…’
What about Kelli?
My goal for Kelli during our week of classes had been to try and help her not to speak God’s name in vain. God wasn’t opposed to my idea, but He had other plans.
We spent our final class time on the following Friday enjoying “tea” together before we talked about heaven. After I talked about the “many rooms” God was preparing there, I asked the girls to tell me who would be allowed to go. Kelli blurted out, “I’ll be there because I’ve asked Jesus into my heart!”
I felt like crying; God’s ways are way bigger than ours. I was busy trying to figure out how to change her language; God changed her heart!
There was a big shout of celebration among the little girls, and we all agreed; getting to go to heaven—to the grand palace Jesus is preparing for all who love Him—is THE BEST!
Today ask God to make your heart soft toward Him—and watch how you use His Name in your everyday speech! †
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